Thursday, September 30, 2010

I didn't know I could knit play food until I tried! Then, I decided that it would be my daughter's birthday present, as I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago. Here's the fruit I've knit so far. I'm going to eventually be adding some to my Etsy. They will be knit in 100% wool yarn and stuffed with clean wool. I think they're awesome!

I'm really proud of this new soaker that I just added to my shop! I don't know where I got the idea from, maybe it was just inspiration from seeing my black and yellow wool yarn skeins together, but I'm pretty pleased with the product! It's a size Large, and I haven't tested the upward limits to that size yet, but I think it can fit a baby from about 20-25lbs to 35+ easily. My daughter is 18lbs in the photos and it's big, but with knit wool, that's not a problem.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Recently, I made a friend. She's a friend of a friend that I visited when I was on vacation. While we were all swimming together with our little ones, it was brought to my attention that she was interested in cloth diapers. Since I'm a cloth diaper fanatic, I quickly told her all the best brands and about how well cloth works for me.

Enter Facebook. My friend's friend who I friended on facebook (Yikes!) is an amazing--no AMAZING--photographer and posted some pictures of her little one online. They were beautiful pictures except for that little bit of paper peeking out from underneath a onsie. Yeah, so I'm totally biased against ugly, disposables. I said, "Girl! You need to get some cloth on that baby's bum!" and then offered to send her some diapers to try. Since I didn't have money to buy some for her I made some. Guess what? She LOVED them! So she ordered five more diapers and one more cover. Her specifications were pinks, purples, greens, and yellows. I asked her about her daughter's nursery theme, and she said, owls, birds, and trees. Then I stalked her photos online and found pictures of her daughter's nursery so I could get a feel for it.

And that's when I made this little guy for her--Oh I love him to death! He, along with five, coordinating diapers were made in about a week of moments stolen here and there when my daughter was happily engaged in her food, or her kitchen playset, or in her crib, sleeping. Sewing projects can be challenging with a toddler running around, but with those stolen moments and a kitchen table full of my crafts at all times, I was able to finish her order.

I was pretty pleased with the result. When she got the diapers, she immediately posted pictures from her phone of her daughter wearing them on FB so I think that she was too. That makes me happy. Very happy.

Friday, September 24, 2010

I know, I know. Bunny is too young to have a Barbie doll, but since she was given one and I thought it would be a good idea for her to use it to learn about different body parts (eyes, hair, feet, etc), I let her open this one that her Aunt gave to her.

The problem was, however, that this particular barbie was wearing a tiny little bikini which not only poses a choking hazard, but is not the type of image I want seared in my little girl's brain. Neither that nor the ridiculously skinny body underneath the swimsuit.

So, I knit this little dress late one night while watching an episode of Covert Affairs. I made some mistakes because I was making up the pattern as I went along, but I'm overall quite pleased with her modest little barbie doll.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Hey, guys! I'm so sorry I haven't posted lately! I've just been SO BUSY!!! I am fulfilling two orders for fitted diapers for friends (totaling 7 diapers plus a cover or two and the covers take much longer and require more work) and I've also been perfecting my NB fitted pattern so I can start to sell them! My friend here is testing a total of 4 NB fitted diapers--all have slight variations on them, and my blogger friend over at The Jacobsen Family has agreed to test three more diaper patterns. So, in the past week, I have cut out all the pieces for 12 diapers. I normally don't sew more than 2-4 diapers in a week (though there was that one week I made 7 for a friend). In addition to that, I'm still hard at work on some wool shorties for my Woolie Winner. In addition, I write reviews and other posts for The Cloth Diaper Blog which earns me some spending cash for things like replacing the video camera I broke at the beginning of the summer.

Whew!

With all that and cleaning my house and working part time and still trying to put my daughter and husband first, you can see how my blog got put on a back burner this week.

Pictures will come soon. NOrmally they come once a week because I was doing Bunny's weekly updates on my personal blog, but now that she's over a year old, I'm only doing monthly posts so I have to remind myself to upload pictures intermittently. Among those pictures, I'll include some of the diapers I've been hard at work on.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

This tutu was one of Bunny's birthday presents, so since her party dress had chocolate cake all over it and most of the guests had gone anyway, I changed her. Also, it matched her periwinkle Fuzzi Bunz diaper and of course those pretty eyes! Ha ha!

Seriously, though, what kid needs that many toys? I wish there was a way to share the immense wealth we have here in the US and other Western Countries evenly throughout the world. I feel poor all the time but when I look back and realize that my one year old daughter has more toys and clothes than most kids can even dream of because they're busy foraging for food, I feel ridiculous for my financial worries. It makes me think that maybe I'm that rich man on a camel trying to get through the eye of the needle.

Friday, September 10, 2010

In One Hand, Two Hands, a children's book by Max Lucado, colorful pictures and rhyming, sing-song-y language explain all the things that our hands can do and then encourages children to use their hands for good. What I love about this book is it's message. It seems to me that it's an amazing child companion to Outlive Your Life because it encourages children to go out and make a difference. It urges them to do good and to help others with their hands. Also, the pictures are very engaging as they illustrate in detail every action that Max Lucado describes. I envision spending hours with my daughter in the future reading this book to her and with her and encouraging her to use her hands for good and to make a difference in the lives of those around her.

However, I just wasn't a big fan of Max Lucado's attempt at meter and rhyme. While he is an amazing author of both adult and children's books (I'm a HUGE fan of his books about the Wemmicks!), he is more of a picture-painter of words rather than a writer of children's poetry. I've seen better rhymes written by unknown authors in bargain books. So, sorry, Max, but I think you should stick to your God-given gift of prose and leave the poetry to people better suited for the task.

Do I recommend this book to others? The message is great, so I think it would enrich any child's life. However, if you're bothered by imperfect meter and almost there rhymes, then go with another inspirational picture book that teaches kids to do the write thing.

Thomas Nelson sent me a copy of this book to review. This gift has in no way affected my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Have you ever stopped to look at where your life is going and wondered if you’re making a difference? Do you ever read about great thinkers or amazing inventors or even just memorable athletes and wonder how you will be remembered? If you will be remembered? In his new book, Outlive Your Life, Max Lucado shows us simple ways to outlive our lives, not necessarily to be remembered, but to make a difference in the hearts of those who need it most. In his amazing, down-to-earth, style of storytelling, Max opens a window into the lives of the disciples of Christ whose lives are recorded in the Bible, and also into the lives of disciples of Christ with whom he is acquainted in order to give us prototypes of how to follow in Christ’s footsteps. It’s all about reaching out to the least of these in the simple ways that we are capable of reaching. It’s about looking—really looking—at people and seeing them the way God sees them. It’s about forgetting our doctrinal differences and working shoulder to shoulder in the mission field called earth to help improve the lives of the impoverished. It’s about being real in the simple ways. It isn’t about grand gestures or even being recorded in a history book.

As usual, I am enchanted with Max Lucado’s writing style. When I read his books, I feel that he brings deep, theological truths that I can barely grasp down to my level where I can understand them and act on them. His anecdotal, friendly style makes for an easy read, and yet I feel like my life is changed every time I read one of his books. He challenges his audience to take a closer look at themselves in the light of Jesus and make the appropriate changes so that we can become more of a reflection of His image. With that in mind, I highly recommend this book to others.

Thomas Nelson sent me a copy of this book to review. This gift has in no way affected my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I can't believe it! I spent the day doing things that she loves.
Mommy stayed home from work.
We played a lot.
She had a playdate.
We watched Sesame Street (she doesn't normally watch TV but Mommy was tired)
We went to the play ground
She opened presents
We let her eat AS MUCH cake as she could handle
She stayed up late.

I tried not to do anything that would detract my attention from her, but when she was napping I worked on writing a letter to her in her "birthday book," a book that my husband and I, and any birthday guests will write to her in at each birthday...and I'll write to her when I feel like it in between ;-)

AND I printed the weekly update posts from my personal blog into a 190 page book. Yes, I wrote weekly updates since her first week (well actually since 6 weeks gestation, but I didn't include those in the book or it would have been ridiculous) and I included pictures so it's sort of her baby book. I'll take it to an office store today and have it bound as soon as I finish writing about her 52nd week.

It was a beautiful day of remembering all that God has done in a year and remembering those first moments when we saw her face and the love began to flow even more than it had when she was just an idea kicking inside of me. I am amazed at all that God has brought us through and I'm amazed at my little girl who now walks around and is trying to talk. She is so beautiful and wonderful inside and out and I feel like the luckiest Mommy in the entire world.

Here are some of her presents: We bought an unfinished play stove/sink from an Amish furniture maker and painted it ourselves and put the fixtures where we wanted them, and I knit her some play fruit to go with it. I didn't know I could knit play food til I tried and no, I don't have a pattern if you're looking for one, I'm sorry. I just make it up as I go. Eventually, when I have the time (maybe after Christmas since I'm going to try to handmake my gifts this year) I will add some play food to my Etsy.

Zulily.com

About Me

I'm an amateur seamstress, a pretty decent knitter, and also a cloth diapering, baby wearing, breastfeeding, and baby food making mom to a creative, loving, independent, potty-trained, "I'll do it myself" four year old girl and a happy, chunky, adorable new baby boy who is quickly stealing all of our hearts. In addition to being a part time stay-at-home-mom, I'm a part time Spanish teacher so sometimes I feel like a JILL of all trades :-D.

Some inspiration from Max Lucado

"You see, he didn't have to go. He had a choice. He could have stayed. He could have kept his mouth shut. He could have ignored the call or at least postponed it. And had he chosen to stay, who would've known? Who would have blamed him? "He could have come back as a man in another era when society wasn't so volatile, when religion wasn't so stale, when people would listen better. "He could have come back when crosses were out of style. "But his heart wouldn't let him. If there was hesitation on the part of his humanity, it was overcome by the compassion of his divinity. His divinity heard the voices. His divinity heard the hopeless cries of the poor, the bitter accusations of the abandoned, the dangling despair of those who are trying to save themselves. "And you can be sure of one thing. Among the voices that found their way into that carpentry shop in Nazareth was your voice. Your silent prayers uttered on tearstained pillows were heard before they were said. Your deepest questions about death and eternity were answered before they were asked. And your direst need, your need for a Savior, was met before you ever sinned. " -Max Lucado